How can it be august?

It's not exactly a sleepy summer day in say Georgia but it is a relatively relaxed friday in the office. Most people didn't even bother to come in and the phones have been very quiet. We've just come off of 3 weeks of intense work and pressure to turn out more than 100 journalists to cover the launch of the Museum's new trendsetting, extraordinary, amazing -- anymore superlatives? -- hand held navigational device, the Explorer. Everything went off without a hitch and was considered by all a success. Lots of press, lots of hoopla and soon on to the next must do. But the day after is just a little down time. Makes you understand why rock stars take drugs to help them stay permanently up and on.

This week we plowed ahead with researching high schools for Kate and went to a seminar at Stuyvesant about large high schools, although not about stuyvesant exactly. The whole thing gives me the whim whams. how do I know whether kate would do better in a large school or a small school. Actually I think most people do better in smaller schools rather than these behemoths of 4,000 kids. If not, why do they split everything up into LC. all this jargon which in this case means learning communities. The education people are famous for this kind of junk. Have a reasonable class size of no more than 28 kids, find a teacher with personality who can teach and get on with it. However those two things seem to be impossible. I know it will all work out in the end, won't it?

Away We Go

Dinner on the lower east side in extreme heat...aaagh. Then on Saturday we took Kate with her two new duffle bags off to meet the bus to Hidden Valley Camp with maybe 100 other kids and tons of gear. She and Lydia are in the same cabin this summer and they both left town with a healthy stack of books to read. Kate also insisted on taking Chinese dried noodles and a thermos of hot water as her picnic lunch for the 8hour bus ride. We waved our only child a fond adieu and took off for Union Square and the stands of farm fresh corn. We ctually didn't stay out very long because it was stll hot. off to an air conditioned space which was the movies and saw Salt. But almost more interesting to me was the hand dryers in the ladies room which are manufactured by Dyson and they are brilliant and they actually dry your hands. Instead of holding your hands under a stream of erratic hair, you hold your hands between two blowers that do the job. Amazing. I'm going to see if Dyson has a design camp and then send Kate. His stuff, including our vacuum cleaner is beautiful and functional.

Nothing more to report because it continued to be hot.And although we ran Miss Murray in the Park, it was still hot at 8:00 am! More air conditioning time until there was a great thunderstorm and the heat broke. At that point we took off for dinner at Tabla where we can sit outside, take Murray and feel totally luxurious.

Private dinners, name tapes and of course camp

Bravo to the chefs! Kate and her friend Lydia spent all day on Wednesday slaving away in a hot kitchen and prepared a sensational dinner for the assembled hordes. That would actually be two sets of parents and one baseball playing brother. Lydia was the inspiration behind this great experience and Lydia's mother was the enabler that made it all come together. Seared tuna on sushi rice or proscuitto wrapped figs were the starters with a nice bottle of Prozecco as the pouring wine. Then beautifully plated dishes on the buffet included chicken roulades with an accompanying pesto sauce, steamed stringbeans and farfalle with a fresh tomatoe sauce. More prosecco or a Rose Malbec for drinks. Dinner was capped by fresh fruit and baklava. We were all thrilled by the high level of professionalism exhibited the girls and their follow through on a very ambitious menu. Three cheers to the girls and Amy, the cooking teacher.

Kate's been on a role because the following night she and her Dad went out for Japanese food while I had dinner at a French restaurant with a friend. And tonight, we are all going out for a celebratory send off at: a french restaurant. Tomorrow she goes to camp for a month and I must start to write notes, letters and e-mail at a furious pace. And we'ver just about managed to identify most of her camp stuff with name tags but the rest of it is probably never coming home with her. I'll just keep my fingers crossed. The first year Kate went to camp she camp home with everybody's clothing but her own....last year wasn't so bad and she assures me that this year will be stellar. The original order of 100 name tapes lasted through 3 years and 3 summer of camp. Not a bad investment. Stellar.

Baby sitting

But this time it was Kate as the baby sitter not the baby sittee. We went out for dinner with friends and Kate baby sat their adorable daughter Emma who is 5, maybe 6 years old and just as smart as a whip. She really keeps Kate on her toes. When we came back from dinner they were curled on the top bunk and playing Vet with Kate having to give a diagnosis and treament plan for all of Emma's many many stuffed animals.

Our regular weekend routine includes a trip up to Central Park to try and run Miss Murray ragged, shopping for my favorite tomatoes at Whole Foods and then this particular Saturday I went off for a transformative hair cut before I met Kate and Arnie at the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design which was an inspired stop. The Carnegie Mansion built for the Carnegia family is beautiful beyond belief with amazing architectural details and it has had many incarnations from a private home to the center for Columbia University School of Social work and now it is the best: A design Museum. The exhibitions were amazing and appealing to adults and children alike with a stunning light fixture that changed shape like a jelly fish, a grain thresher built out of an old bycycle and a chair made of packing materials. Kate was enthralled and then because it was family day there were activities in the garden and stuff just specially for kids including story telling which is always my favorite.

Arnie and I went to the movies to see the second of the Stiegg Larsson triology which was very violent but good! And then Sunday was really too hot to do too much and so we didn't do too much.

And then it was Bastille Day

We had a large extended family party on Tuesday to acknowledge the ten years since I picked Kate up in China. I remember it all quite clearly from my utter terror at actually coming face to face with this child that I had fought so hard to adopt to understanding exactly how my life was changing. And it's still changing. But even though I always want to lug everything up to the roof for dinner...this night was different; hot, hot and airless evening and so even I had a case of the vapers thinking about heavy the air on the roof might be, so we made what I always call a mis course correction and simply stayed inside, very close to the air conditioner . and drank Rose.

The following day, July 14th, was Bastille Day which really went by in a blur for me. No frites, no champagne, no dancing in the streets because I was much more focused on our plan to paint the foyer in our house after at least 7 years and then to decide on the best time to have new carpet laid down in our bedroom. That step we are postponing until Kate goes off to camp at the end of next week. And then the summer is practically over. OMG But the foyer looks great and all those finger prints and smudges are a thig of the past.

Kate had her last day of soccer camp and now poor darling she will just have to chill out.

Mid Course Correction

Grandma Dot arrived for dinner last night a little late because like many New Yorkers she was the victim of incredible traffic. However she had escaped from a slow moving bus and probably thought herself quite clever --this is a manoeuver that I've done too -- to find a cab until she then became stuck in more expensive traffic with a cab meter clicking over relentlessly. So we decided against the Shake Shack and its almost mandatory long wait and order chinese food and then spent much of the evening looking at the pictures from china and exclaiming over all of them and each of us, Dorthy and I, contributing our own memories from that time. Kate was thoroughly content with this evening and went to bed with a huge smile on her face.

Tonight my hopes of a roof top summer party are dashed because of the torrential tropical rain but we will all make merry in the house and eat and drink well.

The Psychic Octopus

Do you think that the amazing psychic octopus might have been part of Kate's Evolution Institute camp? It should certainly get its own TV program. I dont know if she actually saw the Museum's Octopus which is enormous and living in a private formaldhyde bath. But even if she didn't she had a wonderful two weeks and during a good part of our jitney trip out to East Hampton, regaled me with the song that the class had made up which talks about Darwin and fishes and then goes on to say" Evolution taught by revolutionaries....I thought it was very funny.

So kate ping ponged from Drawin and his theories to the psychic octopus and lot of energy spent in the household we visited on the soccer matches to her first viewing of Eclipse or whatever the movie is called. Cheesy, she called the first one. But I need to see the other one so that I can be part of the conversation...Oh, yeah, what conversation. Ok. lets see the other one. Now of course she avers that she cares nothing about vampires and wolves but must see the 3rd movie. I feel the same way about the Stieg Larsson movie so I guess I can't push back too much. We swam this weekend, took walks and runs on the beach, ate well, drank wonderful Rose and just enjoyed being out of the city.

Arnie comes back today from Vail today and then tomorrow we all celebrate with friends the day we picked up Kate. Although actually Kate, Grandma Dot and I are going to the Shake Shack with Miss Murray tonight to have a pre celebration of the celebration.

And Now, a Word (or more) from the OTHER...from Vail

As this is the Slate-Katz FAMILY blog, I thought I might contribute a bit of my own fluff to the effort. I'm visiting my daughters, sons-in-law and grand kids in Colorado for several days, and having a great time. As a quid pro quo, Sallie gets space and private time.

Got to fly there solo...what a freeing experience...and it's always nice to see family. The kids have all grown (as they're wont to do when fed), and Fletcher, the youngest, is a cute handful. We're stuffing as much fun as possible into four days: tubing down Gore Creek; riding bikes in Glenwood Canyon; eating the least nutritious food we can find; downing beers and tequila at the Friday night Vail Mountain Top party.

Today, I headed out with Glenn, Ali and Fletch on their boat...3 hours between getting to the lake and putting the boat in. Glen got to wakeboard for about 20 minutes before thunder and lightning cut the boat trip short. Best part of the day, and totally serendipitous...we took a dirt side road home to an out-of-the-way campgrounds and Glen introduced us to KK's, a fabulous hole-in-the-wall outdoor barbecue joint run by KK, a fireball of an old lady who's been running the place for 20 years. Four huge ribs and a home made brownie with home made vanilla bean ice cream, in sight of the Colorado River...a perfect day.

The kids are running in a triathalon event tomorrow, and I'll be there to root them on. Of course, there's no place like home, and I'll be back Monday evening.

With apologies to our main writer, I've inserted a few pics from the trip.

I was Right

For this New Yorker it will always be LeBron Who? So, lets pay much more attention to the important people like Georgio and Michael...

Last night Kate and I hosted a small dinner party on the roof for friends and were able to stay until the lights of the building started sparkling around 9:00 pm. It was hot as hell during the day but the roof was magical at night. and of course the home made mayonnaise that I served with the cold boned rolled stuffed chicken was pretty good, too. Strawberries and cookies rounded off the dinner nicely.

Today Kate finishes her second and final week of Evolution Institute camp and so I lose my travelling companion to the Museum. She has enjoyed getting to know my work family and is still surprised by how many people I speak to every morning as I wend my way from the subway to the staff cafe for coffee and then up to my office. She says that she has enjoyed the experience although she thinks the "camp is boring but the kids are really nice." I'll take that any day rather than her hating both...next week is a mini kind of soccer camp and then in two weeks she goes off to Maine for a full month. When I was at camp, I remember getting wonderful hand written letters from my father on heavy embossed CBS stationary. They rarely said much other than "we're having a heat wave, I'm working hard," but it was a connection that came on a very regular basis. I would never tax anybody with my handwriting but I do try and send Kate notes every day or every other day. This is my reminder to get into that head set.

LeBron Who?

OK OK I admit that now after all the hoopla in the sports media I do indeed know who this person is. I am hoping that he stays in that midwestern city by the sea otherwise I will never hear the end of his ridiculous made up name.

Today continues to be record breaking hot and I am moved to sport sleeveless dresses that skim my body. Anything tight or that smacks of a fashion detail has been marked verboten so that means no belts, chunky necklaces or even rayon outfits. I realized this morning that my "I am a kool but chic New Yorker" costume is the black Michael Kors dress that I wore to my consular interview with the US immigration folks in Guanxjo - sp -- ten years ago almost to the date. This was the final stop in a 10 day marathon adoption tour in China. That morning we all arrived in our special for the occasion grown up clothes to spend time in a children's romper room until each of us were called into cubicles for our one on one interviews with some beaurocrat. The most important document I had with me on that trip was not all the identifying documents such as birth certificates, etc. but a simple notarized paper that said I had the power to effect Kate's adoption even without the physical presence of my husband. After successfully negotiating that fateful meeting, Kate, Grandma Dot and I all repaired to the beautiful air conditioned bar at the White Swan Hotel that looked out on all the boat traffic on the Yangtze River. I had a celebratory gin & tonic, I don't remember what Dorothy had but Kate had what was clearly her first ice cream cone which she tried quite politely to eat with a knife and fork. Eventually expedience overcame manners as she saw this treasure melting on her plate faster that she could parce it into bite size piece and balance them on a fok.

All this memory because of a dress. Maybe the name for me is Michael Kors and I shall continue to say LeBron who.

Mango madness

Arnie trekked off to Grand Central this afteroon in the high 90 heat
to catch a train for Westport, CT to retreive Kate who had spent
this July 4th weekend with her friend Melanie and according to her mother, all was going so swimmingly that she was invited back for next weekend and to Jamaica for Christmas. Apparently my lessons about how to be a good guest must have taken, this time anyway.

I got to stay home with Miss Murray and enjoy the silence of the apartment and of the city which is still empty as the weekend warriors dragging their suitcases and carrying large bunches of flowers have not made their appearance back on city streets. And so I walked around the apartrment enjoying the space and noting areas which might require some maintenance or help. I don't want to pretend that I did a Rebecca thing walking through Mandalay but it's always nice to reclaim your space. Then I made one of my favorite pilgrimages to my cookbook collection which lives --along with most of my other books -- in Kate's room . Just browsing to see what's doing, who is cooking what and how I might shift our dinners around to be more interesting to me, most of all. Kate could probably subsist very happily on mac n cheese for the next 352 days. I have some time to think about this new direction because Arnie will be going to Vail on Wednesday and Kate and I already have a pretty full dance card.

We kicked the weekend off with a terrible movie. God I hate stupid women in life and certainly in the movies and books. The character that Cameron Diaz played in Knight and Day had me talking back to the screen before the movie had been on for fully 10 minutes. Yikes. So we left. It's all over for me when I don't cre what happens to the chracters.

Brunch with friends, short walks between air conditioned oases, workout at the gym, trip to Chinatown which I love because it's crowded and smelly are feats of endurance for Kate and Arnie because it's crowded and smelly. More walks with Miss Murray and soccer, tennis and books. That's pretty much it.